Kliph Nesteroff Presents "a portal into a previously unseen world" - The Guardian
"Invaluable" - The Onion AV Club
"Important" - John Hodgman, The Daily Show

Tuesday, May 8, 2012

The Oral History of Hockey Night in Canada's Bob Cole

John Shannon, Producer: Bob Cole is one of my favorites. Bob Cole is a consummate entertainer. Bob Cole knows what the hockey
fan wants and, to this day, no one has the ability to rise to the occasion and
to tell the person at home, “This is the time to be excited. Hey, watch out,
something big is about to happen,” and deliver the punch. That’s what Bob Cole
does. I do a lot of teaching now – production seminars with different clients.
The way I describe it is – hockey is exciting on a routine basis, but you have
to learn how to sell the ‘wow factor.’ Bob Cole can deliver that ‘wow factor’
better than anybody. Really, in order to do a solid television production, you
need three ‘wow factors’ in a night. Well, Bob did more than three – Bob had as
many as was needed and often times he was ahead of where the officials were,
the players were – he had a greater sense of anticipation than anybody else. He
played the game at a high level in Newfoundland, but he also had the ability to
use the English language in its simplest form, so there was no bull - just the
facts with that great voice.

Howie Meeker, Analyst: He did all
the hockey in Newfoundland and I knew him from day one. In fact, he was out
there at the airport the first time I went there. 1956-1957 – somewhere in
there. I know Coley very, very well. He was on a radio station. He was a reporter
when I got there. Real good guy. He was a pretty good hockey player as well and
a hell of a curler. He represented Newfoundland in the Briar one year as “Skip”
Cole.

Frank Selke Jr, Exec:When
he first started, he used to come up to the broadcast booth at the Forum … he’d
come in and he’d hang around the booth like a starry eyed kid. When he got the
Sunday night broadcasts, the CBC broadcast radio, you’d have thought he’d died
and gone to heaven. He was so thrilled. He put his heart and soul
into it and I think developed into a very capable broadcaster. He had his own
style.

Jim Hughson, Play-by-Play: What is there to say about Bob Cole other than
he’s legendary in the industry? To do 28 straight Stanley Cup Finals? I think
that speaks volumes.

Gary Dornhoefer, Color Man: He was very intense.

Doug Beeforth, Producer: Coley was very intense as a broadcaster. He took
his job very seriously and he did not want distractions. He
wanted to be able to focus on what he was doing. He would be one of the most
intense broadcasters I’ve ever worked with. His intensity is what makes him as
good as he is.

Dick Irvin, Color Man: That’s the thing about Bob. Once the game starts,
he’s all business. He gets so intense.

Mark Askin, Producer: Bob’s a tough judge. Bob is ultra-serious about
his job. Bob takes life that way too. That’s what Bob was like. He was dead
serious about life.

Steve Lansky, Producer:Very,
very serious about his job and his business.

Dick Irvin: You want me to tell bad stories about him?

Mark Askin: Is Bob funny? Like you can’t believe. People will
go, “He has a sense of humor?” He’s one of the funniest people I’ve ever met.
Dry sense of humor. He can tell a story that lasts twenty-five minutes – you’re
peeing yourself by the middle of it.

Steve Lansky: Oh my God, Coley is hilarious. Bob, I can’t think
of any other word, is an artist. [His] voice can rise and lower and you know
when to look up from your book or whatever you’re doing. Bob tells you when
something is about to happen. Other play-by-play guys get excited when it happens.
Bob’s voice tells you that it’s about
to happen. Bob would come into the booth and he’d sit down and he’d
undo the top button of his pants and he’d pull out his cigarette holder … and
he’d be ready to go.He was ready to do
his game.

Harry Neale: He was a smoker with a cigarette holder.

John Garrett, Color Man: Oh, yeah. Yes. When he was smoking … that was
always delightful.Doug Beeforth: Coley would settle in for a game. He’d get up in
the booth and he’d undo his tie and he was getting ready to do his work.
Sometimes to get really comfortable, he’d undo his belt. So,
there was a game against Quebec at Le Colisée … Coley’s up there calling the
game and Mickey Redmond is his color guy. The game is intense. Coley would
bounce up and down on his seat a lot. That was a part of his intensity … he’d
really get into the game. He’d be body-checking. A goal was scored and he shoots up out of his seat with excitement
and in the small broadcast space that they’ve got him in, there’s these, sort
of, plumbing pipes across the top. Coley fires up out of his seat in excitement
and bangshis head on one of these pipes. Coley of course doesn’t have
any padding in the way of hair
that’s going to help. So he bangs his head and he’s sort of holding his head
not saying anything and now his pants start to fall down because he undid his
belt! He’s holding his head and his pants… Mickey is looking at him and he
can’t keep from laughing! He doesn’t want to laugh on the air, so Mickey can’t
say anything. And the [production] truck is starting to yell at him. “What’s
going on!? Here’s the replay! Say something about the replay! SAY SOMETHING!”
Mickey can’t say anything and Coley is holding his head and trying to pull his
pants up and the dust is raining down…

Steve Armitage, Host: I can be in another room and I’ll hear Bob getting
wound up and I can tell by the inflection in his voice when it’s time to go to
the television to watch; one of a kind in terms of the voice. I don’t think
we’ll ever hear his like again. Identified with hockey in a fraction of a
second. Just a great storyteller of the game in a way that play-by-play doesn’t
do anymore. Chris Cuthbert and Jimmy Hughson will give you a ton of information
in their commentary. Bob, pretty much stuck to basic play-by-play ala Foster
Hewitt, but Bob did it with a far superior voice.

John Garrett: The one thing about Coley that he still has, is
anticipation of something happening in the play. I think, a lot of play-by-play
guys, that’s the one thing that they don’t have. They can’t anticipate when
there’s danger. You could be looking the other way and all of a sudden you hear
Coley’s voice and you know something is going to happen so you turn around and
watch the TV … He might have the names wrong and he might not have the right
team, but you know something is going to happen.

Dick Irvin: I think Bob’s the best straight ahead play-by-play
man we’ve ever had. He just calls the game and it’s the game and that’sit. There’s no small talk with Bob.
There’s no trivia. There’s no, you know, Bob just does the game. I guess you’d
call him from the old school.

Jim Robson, Play-by-Play: Hughson knows everybody. All the line match-ups
and all of that, but Bob never does any of that stuff. He talks about the score
and the time… but people don’t mind. It’s only the media guys that notice that.
He has a great voice – the best voice in the business. He’s been doing it a
long time and he’s had dramatic goals and a lot of Stanley Cup Finals. He has
the best job in the world. He’d fly into Toronto Thursday night, be there
Friday, do the game Saturday and go home. Now Jim Hughson has the best job in
the world, but Hughson works a lot harder at it I think.

Jim Hughson: [Bob Cole is] a guy who I’ve never actually worked
with because we do the same job. We meet maybe once a year when they have a Hockey Night in Canada symposium
… we’re always in different places. Never really got a chance to know him. When
I was with TSN, we would run into each other in airports and things like that.
Our conversations would always be something to the effect of, “How are you
pronouncing that guy’s name?” I’d say, “Oh, I think this is the way it is.”
He’d say, “Okay! That’s the way we’ll do it. You do it that way, I’ll do it
that way and then everyone will follow.”

John Garrett: (laughs) Well, a lot of guys will just say, “Tap
me on the shoulder when you want to get
[a word] in.” Bob Cole, one of the first things he said to me, “Hello,
John. Nice to meet ya. There’s one thing. Never touch me.”

Doug Sellars: I’m sure you’ve heard the stories. You’re not
allowed to touch him. I can remember … if a new P.A. came in, you had to give
him all the instructions. “Here’s how Bob likes to work. He’ll stand up, he’ll
unbuckle his belt, he likes to be comfortable, but do not touch him.”

Steve Lansky: My first memory of Bob … I had done so many Oilers
games that numbers had, kind of, become an after thought. When I saw a play
develop and Jari Kurri would score and it was pretty clear that it came from
Coffey and Gretzky, I would simply write 17 and then in brackets 7 and 99,
quickly write the time [of the goal] on a piece of paper and put it in front of
Bob. [That way] he could do the scoring play before the cheering had stopped.
But he wouldn’t. He wouldn’t do it. I’d touch the paper and I’d point to it and
the play would be going on. I’d be pointing at the paper, “Give the scoring
play, Bob.” Nothing. So, finally the whistle goes and [Gary Dornhoefer] starts
to talk and I touch Bob’s arm and point to the paper. We are right on the air.
He takes off his headset and he says to me, “Kid! Don’t be touchin’ me! Don’t ever touch me! Don’t
touch me!” Puts his headset back on. I remember John [Shannon] saying, “What
was that?” I
said, “I’m not going to touch Bob again,” and John said, “Yeah, that’s a good
idea. Don’t touch Bob.”

Frank Selke Jr: If there was a problem with Bob, I think it was
his reluctance or inability to really make use of his color man. Bob wasn’t
much for conversation in the course of a game.

Gary Dornhoefer: He didn’t always like the interruption during play
with an analyst coming in.

Dick Irvin: The color man says very little with Bob as long as
Bob is talking.

Harry Neale, Color Man: I had always had a good relationship with Don
Wallace who was the head of sports at the CBC … when I was coaching Vancouver,
I filled in and did a game or two in Calgary. We didn’t make the playoffs and
Calgary was in … I always used to kid Wallace and say, “When I get fired for
the last time, I’ll be calling you.” So one day after I got fired in Detroit,
he called on a Wednesday or Thursday and said, “What are you doing Saturday?” I
said, “Nothing.” He said, “Come on down to Montreal.” So I went down there. I
went on between periods. I didn’t do the color. He said, “Well, I don’t know
how many games I could give you, but would you be willing to do some from here
on in?” So, I did … some Hockey
Night games – not every Saturday. That summer, John Davidson went to
Madison Square Garden in New York. He was the number one Hockey Night color commentator so I took his games. That’s when
it all started – and I went for about twenty years, I think … When I did the
color for the first time … all I remember is that I certainly had no idea in
reference to preparation, what I was doing. I often wondered why Wallace ever
asked me back to do the second game after the first game. There’s no training
for it … you just start. So, when
they said you’ve got eight seconds or ten seconds, that meant absolutely
nothing to me. Once I started talking I had no idea. There were all kinds of
little things to learn from a broadcasters viewpoint … I’m talking about 1985
or 86 … I liked doing it … and I became more comfortable as it went on … I’m
from the old school, you know, when the play started I got out. Because the
play-by-play guy, that was his
job. So, you had to learn to be a little more concise in your thoughts and not
just watch the game the way you might watch it as a fan or even as a coach.
You’re watching it so you can call down for a highlight or know what happened
on that goal. Wallace and John Shannon both told me, “We all know who scored
and we all know what team scored, but we want to know why.” That was kind of drilled into my head early in my
career … Bob Cole was there and I can’t remember [who else]. I didn’t do very
many Hockey Night games that
first year.

Mark Askin: Bob is not a guy who interacts well with the color
guy. Bob is a very straightforward play-by-play guy, but you know you’re
getting the best of all time with Bob. When Harry worked with him, and I did
eleven years with the two of them together as their producer, you’d have Harry
find a way to make Bob laugh. No one else makes Bob laugh. To find a way to
co-exist with Bob on the air – they became the best twosome for well over a
decade. Well
over a decade – almost two
decades.

Doug Sellars: They just had that chemistry … it was just
perfect. Sometimes you just hit with guys that work well together. And they
liked each other. I think.

Steve Lansky: That’s what made each of them great. Coley was
kind of the straight man because he didn’t really want to break character much
and he was very, very serious about his job and his business. Harry was kind of
the opposite, because Harry had figured out that it was all about entertainment
… I thought they were almost like Lucy and Ricky, where Ricky was the serious
one and Lucy was always doing something crazy, but together they were perfect.

Harry Neale: I always had the feeling that we weren’t
describing nuclear physics. It was a hockey game, and there were always amusing
things that happened in a hockey game, and I took a little pride in the fact
that I could get Coley to take his eyes off the rink and take a look at me and
smile. Because he’s so intense. Sometimes it worked and sometimes
he gave me that look, “What the hell are you talking about?”

Steve Armitage: Bob has worked with countless color guys down
through the years. When Bob wants to speak he gives you “The Heisman.” You know
what the Heisman Trophy looks like? With the hand pushed forward? When Bob does
that to his color guy that means, “Bob is speaking!”

Harry Neale: If you ever talked through the play … that really
upset him. We used to kid and say we got “The Heisman.” Did you get a “Heisman”
from Bob Cole?

Gary Dornhoefer: He would prefer that you stop [talking] at the
whistle. When the play is between the blue line - nothing is really happening.
That’s always a good time for the color man or analyst to come in and make a
comment. Y’know, if it’s pertinent, why not? With Bob it seemed to disrupt his
flow. After a while we just didn’t do it. We waited for a stoppage in play.
With all the other guys it wasn’t a problem.

Mark Askin: Everything has to go in one ear for Bob Cole
because he puts his hand up to the other ear. [We] had to build a special
headset just for Bob. If you’re great like Bob and great like Danny, you do
whatever you can to get the best out of those guys. It’s a small price to pay
to get their legendary words and vivid images.

John Shannon: True theatre of the mind.

Steve Armitage: He’s very much to himself. Bob was not a party guy
in the sense that he would go out and have a drink with you after the game.

John Shannon: He’s a guarded person.

Brian McFarlane: He’s a private person.

John Shannon: He guards his privacy.Steve Armitage: That was one of the great Hockey Night in Canada traditions.
You’d go to a bar and have a few pops after the game with the crew, the
directors, the producers and fellow commentators. Bob very seldom did that. He
did a few times, but not very often. Mark Askin: Bob Cole loves Frank Sinatra. Loves him.
Of all the things you talk to Bob about, “Oh, Frank! Unbelievable.” Frank this
– Frank that. I went to Italy for my Honeymoon. The first day we’re there, we
walk over to St. Peters … they were doing mass for newlyweds … so we go ... and
we get pushed through this door …

now we’re in St. Peter’s Basilica … out from
this curtain, within thirty seconds, trumpets start. The Pope walks right out!
He looks at me and he says something and
he puts his hand on my head and walks away, which I thought was unbelievable. I come
back [to Toronto] and I tell the guys this story. Everyone is like, “Oh my God,
that’s amazing!” I tell the story and Bob is there. Bob says, “I got one [to
top that]. I was at the Sinatra concert at the Civic Arena a month ago. Two
ladies are beside me – and after the concert – Frank Sinatra touched that
lady’s arm.”Harry Neale: Bob Cole and I went to see Frank Sinatra in the
Pittsburgh Arena when it was first built … He’s a great Frank Sinatra fan and
he’s a great music fan. He’s got favorite singers and favorite orchestras and
Sinatra could do no wrong as far as Coley was concerned. He got mad one night
when a veteran player made a bad mistake and it ended up in the goal. I said,
“You know, even Frank Sinatra had to clear his throat during a song once in a
while.” He looked at me like I was cutting down his friend. Steve Armitage: Yes, he loved Frank Sinatra. I worked a lot of
games with Bob Cole. Bob would go back to his room … he’d probably deny it … He
loved Captain Morgan. He would have a bottle of Captain Morgan, run a bath and
he would drink in the bathtub and listen to Frank Sinatra (laughs).

Doug Sellars: Captain Morgan and it had to be real Coke. None of
that new Coke

Jim Robson: Bob Cole continues to work even though he only
seems to know twenty-five percent of the players’ names.

Brian McFarlane: I don’t understand the criticism he gets. Sure,
he’s getting on in age, but he’s my age, and I cheer anybody my
age who can still get up there and do a game and can handle all the travel and
the problems that come along.

Steve Lansky: The Brett Hull [Stanley Cup winning goal] in 1999.
That one bothered me. You won’t find it because they’ve gone back and
re-striped it. First he called – at one point he called Dennis Hull.
Ultimately he called Brett. What they
did was they went back into the studio and re-striped it. So, if you ever see
that goal again it’ll sound like he called it perfectly. I have the original
VHS – and it was a struggle. That one was a struggle for Bob. I felt for him.

Jim Robson: It sounds like sour grapes when I talk about Bob,
but it drives me crazy when he doesn’t mention the players’ names. He’ll say,
“The Flyers dump the puck in. The Flyers get it down the ice.”

Jim Robson: When the Canucks played in 1994 in the Stanley Cup
Final - the big goal in game one [at Madison Square Garden] was an overtime goal
by Greg Adams. Pavel Bure started it from the Vancouver blue line with a pass
to Cliff Ronning. Ronning carried the puck a few strides and fed it up to Greg
Adams who broke into the clear and scored on a breakaway late in the long
overtime. Bob Cole did the game on TV. He never mentioned Pavel Bure. He never
mentioned Cliff Ronning. He never mentioned Greg Adams. It was just “They
score,” and probably someone in the truck said “Greg Adams” or something. He
gets away with it because he has got a great voice. It’s dramatic, but those
names never got mentioned.

Steve Lansky: I remember the game that the Rangers fired fifteen
overtime shots at Patrick Roy and the Canadiens came back and scored. If you
watch that call, the Canadiens get a breakaway. Cole says something like, “Roy
makes a great save. Now here come the Canadiens back! Breakaway - right in -
scores!” The guy who scored skates around and back to center ice.I remember looking at Doug Beeforth and
saying, “I don’t think he said Claude Lemieux yet.” Finally he said, “Lemieux
scored.” I remember asking him later, “Why the delay?” He said, “I had no idea
[who scored]. We were too far away.”Bob always told
me that vision was a struggle.

Frank Selke Jr: Some of the buildings were certainly not easy to work
in. Madison Square Gardens particularly, you were a hell of a long way from the
ice surface. I was never around to have the guy’s eyes checked or anything like
that. So I don’t know whether Bob had eyesight issues, but I do know that
Madison Square Gardens was not an easy place to work. Again, the issue of his
inability to work closely with his color guy would be a detriment in that
sense.

Harry Neale: Every broadcaster in every sport and every color
man in every sport, misidentifies from time to time. The play-by-play guy
doesn’t have time to look down at the number because he’s watching the game …
Bob Cole gave me one good piece of advice. He said, “We’re all going to
[identify] the wrong guy [occasionally]. Don’t correct yourself. Because only a
small percentage of the people that were watching the game on television would
know that you’ve got the wrong guy. If you correct yourself everyone knows.”
Not bad advice. Now, on replays that’s different. On the replays, sometimes you
get a chance to see them before they show them and find out what the guy’s name
is. I don’t believe that eyesight story. At some of the rinks the broadcast
facilities are not as good as the others. And Madison Square Gardens is one of
the worst.

Frank Selke Jr: I think through the past few years, Bob was losing
some of his accuracy. He was missing on players’ names and so on. But the last
year was probably as good a year as he had as long time … Why that is I’m not
sure, because I’m not party to what’s going on in his life. But from what I’ve
heard, his lifestyle might be a little bit better than what it was. I think he
may have also realized that his days were being talked about, being numbered,
and maybe he buckled down a little bit and worked a little harder at the job.

About Me

My long awaited book about comedy will be published by Grove Atlantic in 2015.
Longtime contributor to WFMU and CBC. Cited by Vanity Fair, GQ, The Guardian, The Globe and Mail, The Onion, Salon, Slate, Atlantic Monthly, BoingBoing, Comedy Central, Dangerous Minds, WTF with Marc Maron, The New York Times, Vice etc.